Harry Potter: The Remake
by tehnemox
Summary: A re-imagining of the original story with some obvious divergence points that lead to different character interactions in the long run, with hopefully enough familiar things sprinkled throughout. First attempt at writing a fic so feedback is welcome.
1. Chapter 1 - Welcome to 4 Privet Drive

**Chapter 1 - Welcome to #4 Privet Drive**

Stars shone all around them in the vast expanse of blue. The motorbike glided through the skies unseen by the sleeping village below.

*THUMP*THUMP*THUMP*

The bike purred as it picked up speed. It felt wonderful. The crisp air contrasted with the warmth of the coat around him.

*THUMP*THUMP*THUMP*

They dove and passed through a cloud, but when the bike came out the other side, the sky had changed. The stars had blinked out and there was only darkness now.

*THUMP*THUMP*THUMP*

 _What is that noise? Is the bike broken?_

The bike starting bucking as a sickly green light enveloped them. The cold air felt heavy in his chest. There was a scream and a loud noise like wood breaking and the green light felt hotter and hotter on his skin.

*THUMP*THUMP*THUMP*

"Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt raped on the door again. "Up!" she screeched. Harry sat in his bed still half asleep as he reached for his glasses. He was sweating and he did not know why. He was having a dream. It had started pleasant but towards the end it felt wrong. Scary. He tried to recall the good part instead, it had felt familiar. Almost like a memory rather than a dream. It involved...a flying motorbike? But that was impossible...right?

Harry Potter had always had weird things happen around him that made him wonder sometimes. Like that time when he ended in the roof of his school trying to get away from Dudley and Piers. Or when aunt Petunia had cut his hair and looked so horrible he could not sleep all night dreading going to school the next day, only to wake up with his hair looking like nothing ever happened, like it always was: all over the place. Aunt Petunia was not happy that day. All her effort to tame that mass of hair for nothing.

His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly" said Harry.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. It's Duddy's special day and I want everything perfect!"

"Yes aunt Petunia" he replied.

Dudley's birthday - he had almost forgotten. No wonder aunt Petunia was on edge. He was not looking forward to it. One of the few days they had to interact with... _him_.

Harry did not like to think about the man. For years he was the victim of his abuse while he spoiled his son and looked at Harry as if daring him to complain. The man that once upon a time he was required to call uncle.

Vernon Dursley was a big beefy man, with hardly any neck but a very large moustache and a temper to match. He was one of the top sales representatives at a drill company called Grunnings. Harry only ever saw him a few times a year. Most of the weekends that he came to pick up Dudley he just stayed in the car and waited for his precious son to get in before driving away. Same when he dropped him off. But some special occasions, like Dudley's birthday, there was no avoiding it. The divorce lawyers had made it clear during the custody battle what his rights would be in respect to visitation rights. Harry figured as much as he did not want to deal with Vernon (he had finally stopped thinking of him as his uncle some time back), aunt Petunia had the rights to not wanting to see him even more. Being kept in the dark about your husband having an affair at work will make you a little miffed at him.

And so it happened that today Vernon was over to celebrate Dudley's birthday by taking him to the zoo. The birthday boy came barrelling down the stairs, excited at what was in store for them today.

"Harry!" called Dudley with a huge smile on his face.

 _I guess if it makes Dudley happy I can put up with Vernon for today_ -thought Harry as he smiled at his cousin. He had refused to go to the zoo without him and Vernon had agreed reluctantly to take them both along with Piers, Dudley's best friend and the one who usually held victim's arms back for Dudley to punch. He shook his head in mocking disbelief. Dudley had begged for him to come. It was weird, if someone would have told Harry 4 years ago that he would get along well with Dudley, or that he would be able to play tag with him and Piers (even if he somehow ended up in the roof when running away), he would have called them crazy. Yet it was true...mostly. Dudley had a reputation to uphold in school after all, but he went out of his way to find other targets other than Harry and when not...well, he never really left any bruises and tried to make it up to him at home. It was not ideal but Harry would take anything over what it used to be.

"So, where do you want to go first Dudders?"

"Lions!"

"Ok, you go ahead and get in the car son, I will be right there" chuckled Vernon with a smile. It disappeared from his face almost as soon as Dudley was out the door, and that was when he felt the almost angry grip of that man on his arm. Vernon spun Harry around to face him and with a threatening look said exactly what Harry was expecting him to. "I'm warning you boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you will regret it". Resigned to it Harry meekly responded with a simple "yes sir".

0-0-0-0-0

The ride to the zoo was uneventful, with Piers telling them all about the latest videogame he had bought and chatting merrily about nothing and everything. And so it was that they arrived at the zoo.

Even though he was there because of Dudley's invitation, Harry still tried to keep to himself in order to avoid giving Vernon any excuse to pay attention to him. This worked for most of the day - at least until the incident. It had been a very warm day and when Piers started complaining about sweating too much, Harry suggested they go to the reptile exhibit. He reasoned that the area would be somewhat cooler being inside a building rather than out in the sun like the other animal exhibits, but really, anything was better than outside. He was right: there were many interesting specimens, and Dudley ran to one of the windows along the walls that had a giant Brazilian boa, large enough that it could have wrapped its body twice around Vernon's car and crushed it into a compact little junk pile. Dudley pressed his face against the glass, expecting the snake to do something interesting - it was however quite still, probably sleeping.

"What is the point of a giant dirty snake if it is just going to lay there?" he whined. Vernon rapped on the glass with his heavy knuckles, but the snake didn't budge. "This is boring" Dudley moaned as they moved away to the next window. Vernon just muttered something about incompetent animal trainers as he followed him. Harry took the opportunity to look at the snake himself. "Sorry about that, Vernon always expects obedience if he makes enough noise". That was when the snake opened its eyes and stared right at Harry. Very slowly it jerked its head towards Vernon and raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that clearly said ' _I get that all the time_ '. After that it did something even more impossible.

 _It winked at him_

"But, snakes can't blink, much less wink, and wait did you actually understand me just now?" he almost choked in surprise. The snaked continued to surprise him by moving its head up and down in and unmistaken nod. This was when he jumped in surprise as he heard Dudley standing behind him whispering to himself. "Holy crap that was amazing Harry, how did you do that?" It would have not been too bad until Piers yelled out loud "MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT IT WAS JUST DOING!"

Vernon came over and decided whatever it was, Dudley deserved front row and proceeded to shove Harry aside quite forcefully. "Watch it boy, don't be so clumsy around a crowd" said Vernon with a smug grin as he faced Harry and leaned against the glass in front of him with his elbow on the glass and his fist on his temple, blocking the snake from Harry's view. He had caught Harry by surprise and he fell on the ground, knocking his glasses and scrapping his arm which was now starting to bleed. What transpired next happened so fast nobody really understood it had happened until a scream of surprise came from inside the enclosure followed by a loud splash as Vernon fell in the little pond the snake had been using to cool itself inside its enclosure. Panic ensued as the giant Boa slithered into the ground and passed just inches from a shocked and confused Harry.

' _Thank you amigo, Brazil, here I come!'_ said a hissing voice that seemed to come from the snake.

The keeper of the reptile house was baffled and kept repeating to himself "but the glass, where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself made an appearance to apologize profusely to Vernon and offer him complimentary passes to them. A fuming Vernon refused and demanded a full refund - he did not mention of course that he had already used coupons to get the tickets at a discounted price so he got more money back that he had spent.

The car ride back was hot, uncomfortable and unbearable. While on the underground parking lot he had manhandled Harry into the boot of the car, knocking the wind out of him as he hit him and yelling at him how it was his fault and he had warned him about any freak stuff. It did not matter to him how many times Harry said it was not his doing. "I warn you, you make any noise at all between here and the house and you will pay boy!" Once the boot of the car was closed the sounds outside dimmed but he could still hear him threatening Piers (and Dudley as well although not as strongly) to not say anything about Harry being in the trunk to anybody. Neither boy wanted to join him in the trunk so they agreed to keep quiet.

Vernon seemed to have taken the longest route back, to increase the time Harry spent sweating in the boot, taking sharp turns and causing Harry to get bumped around with all manner of hard objects that were inside. After what seemed like an eternity, he felt the car stop and heard Piers thank Vernon and Dudley for inviting him to the zoo and hurriedly ran inside his house. Some time later the car stopped again and bright light blinded Harry as the door to the boot opened. He was unceremoniously yanked out into the driveway floor and a sharp pain hit him as a shoe connected with the small of his back. More and more kicks came after the first.

"Dad stop! Please!"

Harry was starting to see spots in front of his eyes.

"Dad!

Slowly, Vernon turned to his son and said in a calming voice "its ok Dudders, he won't do any more abnormal stuff around you. I'm just making sure he knows he ruined your birthday and that is not acceptable.

Dudley went quiet and for a second Harry thought the beating was going to continue.

"He didn't ruin it. You did, just…go away please"

Did Harry hear right? Dudley was standing up to his father...for him? Dudley loved his dad. He heard Dudley go inside the house in a run and Vernon follow him. Harry tried to get up slowly and saw aunt Petunia standing at the door with her arms crossed staring down at Vernon, with Dudley cowering behind her and clutching her skirt.

"Pet, please. Let me explain" said Vernon, his words faltering a bit under the strong gaze of aunt Petunia.

"DON'T YOU 'PET' ME! I don't know what happened but you have no right anymore in this household and if Dudders says you need to go, that means you leave.

"But -"

"BUT NOTHING, GO!" Interrupted his aunt before Vernon could continue.

"Fine!" He said and got in his car, slamming the door shut and making the tires screech against the asphalt as he left angry.

"Thank you" said Harry to both of them.

"Whatever" was all the response he got from his aunt before she went inside, not even bothering to see if Harry needed any sort of first aid.

"Sorry about my dad" said Dudley in a very quiet voice as he helped Harry into the house and up the stairs to his bedroom. He sat next to Harry for a long time before he spoke again. "You actually did it didn't you? Weird things always happen around you"

"Dudley I-"

"Don't worry about it. I love my dad, but I saw how badly he treated you. I always knew I guess but I was too scared to see it for what it really was. I admit I bully people, but never to the extent my dad got with you today. Nobody deserves that.

"Thanks Duds, I know it must have been hard for you to stand up to your dad like that" winced Harry after a few moments.

"I saw you talking to that snake you know? How did you do that?" He replied softly.

"I honestly don't know, I am still not sure it really happened. Please don't tell anybody. I get picked on enough as it is by the other school gang you are rivals with".

"...ok. But if you figure it out, you'd better teach me too, deal?"

"deal".

And with that, Dudley left him so he could sleep. He was sore and exhausted and had several small bruises. He would be hurting for at least a week, he thought.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Harry woke up in darkness. A loud grumbling noise greeted him reminding Harry that the last thing he ate had been that morning. He had been anxious all day for his birthday, which was only two days away. Boy was he hungry. He tiptoed his way to the kitchen where he found some leftover sandwiches on the counter with a note.

 _Make sure you clean up_

Nothing more was written yet Harry recognized his aunt's loopy writing. He chuckled to himself in mild amusement. It still felt odd to have aunt Petunia being actually nice to him. Well, maybe not nice - years of disdain are a hard habit to break. Still, compared to Dudley, his aunt's change was even more surprising to Harry.

It made Harry feel a bit mean at feeling happy about the Dursley's separation. His aunt had suffered a lot because of it, but the changes that had come after the ordeal could not be ignored. Aunt Petunia was mortified when she found out about the affair, especially since it circulated through the grapevine incessantly, so her gossiping days had ended once she had experienced being the one gossiped about. She really hated how it had felt.

Also, it seemed that without Vernon's influence, she actually was not that inclined to be nasty to Harry. She just did not care about him instead - so long as he stayed out of her way. She even encouraged him to get out of the house on his own so she would not have to see him much. She did not care what he did so long as she did not have to hear about it.

It was this new freedom had allowed Harry to go out and discover all sorts of things. Like the fact that he could make some money working doing small chores for the neighbours - after he had managed to convince them he was indeed NOT a delinquent. Vernon's indiscretion helped the neighbourhood consider that maybe Harry really wasn't the trouble maker he was always made out to be. He had been able to finally, after years of wearing baggy hand-me-down clothes, afford to buy himself some that fit him.

But the best discovery was perhaps the wonders of the small public library on the other side of the nearby park. It had become a safe haven for him when he needed to escape from the rest of Dudley's gang. After all, just because Dudley himself had started to be nicer to him at home did not mean his gang were going to give up their favourite game of 'punch Harry until he cries' - Dudley could not very well tell them to stop without affecting his reputation or have them turn against him.

More than a safe haven, the library had become a second home to him. Their main collection consisted mostly of books donated by the community over the years and by now he had managed to read almost every book in the sci-fi and fantasy sections. It filled him with joy to escape to different worlds were magic, technology and fantastic beasts were commonplace. He often found himself daydreaming about living in such worlds. The sci-fi in particular seemed the most plausible thing to happen, so he had started reading books on science, physics, chemistry and anything he could find with an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge. He was glad that after the divorce he had also been allowed to move into the smaller room upstairs where Dudley kept all his broken toys. It was way bigger than the cupboard under the stairs he used to sleep in and he would have never had enough room there for all the books he kept signing out of the library.

And so it was that Harry sat in the kitchen in quiet contemplation of life in Privet Drive. He had bad memories growing up, sure, but it had been gradually getting better as of late. Despite the improvement, there was a feeling like something was missing. Something that he had yearned for his whole life – a loving family. He had relatives in aunt Petunia and Dudley, but they were not family. Even if their treatment of him had improved he was still not treated as family, and he had a feeling he never would be.

Harry stood up slowly and started cleaning up. He glanced at the clock in the wall and saw it was only half past 5 in the morning. He could not go back to sleep now even if he wanted to. There was just too much on his mind. He remembered reading about how exercise could help with improving mental health, depression, anxiety, ADHD and more. If he was not wrong, he could swear the article he read also claimed it helped with stress, improve memory, help sleep better and boost overall mood. And right now he could use an improvement on his mood.

He had never really been into working out for its own sake, but he was not that bad in school when in gym class so how difficult could it be right? He decided to start by taking up running. He did not know any sort of workout regimen nor did he own any equipment after all so he figured it was as good as any other place to start. He managed to keep pace for about 10 minutes before he finally gave up and walked the rest of the way back. He decided maybe running wasn't for him. Nobody said 10 year olds had a lot discipline and he did at least try.

As he got closer to his street he heard a commotion coming from a familiar house. Harry was greeted by a very strange sight taking place at number 4 Privet Drive. Aunt Petunia was in the front garden in her bathrobe and hair curls (something she would NEVER had allowed herself to do before as it was not proper) wielding a broom trying to chase away a pair of owls.

"Go. Away. You. Stupid. Things!"

Each word punctuated with a new swing of the broom.

"I do not want your stupid letters! Leave us alone! I will not let you ruin my family again!"

It was hard to tell exactly what was going on in Petunia's head. It made no sense why she was yelling at 2 owls about letters, but it was her face that was the most odd. She had a look of complete disgust mixed with anger and fear. He had seen disgust and anger before, but that terrified look was new. Harry was extremely curious as to what had led to this very entertaining yet puzzling situation. He knew better than to ask however so he quietly sneaked through the back door instead and headed upstairs to take a much needed shower before he set out to start preparing breakfast. He could always find out later. Since Aunt Petunia no longer actively gossiped around the neighborhood she had taken to wandering around the house talking to herself and complaining about whatever was bothering her about the world at the time as an outlet instead. Harry had no doubt she would be complaining about those owls all day.

Morning passed and turned to noon, which in turn led to afternoon and night. And interestingly, Aunt Petunia did not mention the owls at all. In fact, she went on about her day like nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. The only thing of note that happened was all the conspicuous glances she seemed to throw his way every now and then like he was planning something dreadful. These looks were usually followed by looking at the skies through the window as if expecting the owls to return and somehow it being his fault. All the while pretending to not be looking at him at all.

Later that night, as Harry closed the library book he had been reading (he was on his 7th time reading the Lord of the Rings series), he was still wondering what it had all been about. He looked at the clock in the nightstand and decided to finally go to sleep – 3am was quite late. He had planned to get ready by 6 and maybe giving running another chance but that would be too early now with too little sleep. And he was definitely not waking up early the next day – it was his birthday after all.

It did not matter in the end as a loud crashing noise woke him up in what he felt was way too soon. He fumbled around for his glasses and saw that it was only 6:30am. Down from the living room came the sound of breaking ceramic, shouts and some sort of screeching. He quickly jumped on his slippers and headed downstairs to see what was going on. Once again he found his aunt involved in a battle with a pair of brown tawny owls that had this time somehow found their way inside the house and were wildly flapping their wings to stay away from the crazy lady with the broom that was currently in the process of destroying half her living room trying to hit them.

Harry almost did not notice that the owls were holding something in their legs, it looked like an envelope. But once he saw them he tried to grab it as one of the owls flew by. Harry deftly picked out the envelope in mid-air and the owl took the opportunity to escape into the kitchen. He only had a moment to make out his name on the envelope before aunt Petunia snatched the envelope out of his hands on her way to chase the owl out of the kitchen.

"Give me that, it is not for you"

The blur that was Petunia Dursley moved towards the back door letting the first owl escape through. The second owl followed suit but not without first dropping its envelope on the kitchen table.

The envelope was thick and heavy made of yellowish…parchment? Who uses parchment anymore? Harry had to strain his eyes looking from the hallway. He did not want to tip off his aunt that the envelope was there – she was distracted at the moment smashing more plates as she swung the broom with anger trying to hit the elusive avian invader. From the looks of it the envelope had emerald-green ink on the front and he was trying to make out what it said when he was distracted by an unexpected voice behind him.

"Blimey! What is going on Harry?"

A startled Harry let out muffled yelp as he clutched his chest.

"What is going on is you almost gave me a heart attack! Since when are you so quiet going down the stairs Duds?

His pudgy cousin just smirked.

"I wasn't sneaking unlike some people I know" – he shot his cousin a knowing look.

"Besides, with all that racket it's not like you could hear me anyway. Where did those owls come from? Mum is raising such an uproar the neighbors are going to complain"

"No idea, but look, they were delivering letters of some sort. I don't think aunt Petunia wants us to know, she snatched one out of my hands just now that had my name on it".

A confused look appeared on Dudley's face – "Who'd be writing to YOU?"

Harry cringed and bit back a response. He knew that his cousin did not mean to say that the way he did. He just wasn't the type of person to realize when he said something hurtful. And Harry had to admit that while sad, he was right – he did not have anybody to write letters to, let alone anybody crazy enough to use an owl to deliver letters for that matter. He was as confused and curious as his cousin.

Ten minutes later aunt Petunia managed to finally shoo the bird away. Just when she was getting ready to pretend nothing was wrong, there was a loud bang coming from the living room followed by a crash like something heavy landed on the floor. All three habitants of number 4 Privet Drive rushed to see what it had been that caused yet more noise this morning. What they saw stopped them in their tracks.

A massive creature of hair and fur was invading their home. Unintelligible grunt noises came from the unknown entity.

"Sorry 'bout that" - said the giant of man as he lifted from the floor the door he had apparently knocked off its hinges - "Da'noe my own strength sometimes".

He strode forward towards Harry, who suddenly realized Dudley was no longer next to him and was now frozen with fear trying to hide behind his very skinny mother and failing miserably.

"There ye' are. Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby. Yeh grew up tae look a lot like yer dad, excep' yeh've got yer mum's eyes" said the giant.

Harry looked up and found the stranger's eyes glinting like black beetles under all the hair, with an unmistakeable look of sincere happiness. The breath he now realized he had been holding was released and despite his appearance and entrance Harry could not help but feel this giant would not hurt him.

"Excuse me but, who are you?"

His voice came out an octave higher than he would have liked but he kept looking at the stranger as if he hadn't. The giant chuckled.

"You are right, where be my manners. You probably don't remember me since you were just a toddler. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, but yeh'll know all about Hogwarts I reckon"

"Er – no," said Harry, "sorry".

"What yeh mean no? Didn't you ever wonder where your parents learnt it all?" Hagrid stared at Harry with a shocked looked on his face.

"He doesn't, and I had hoped he never would. Bunch of freaks in that infernal place!"

Harry jumped in surprise and stared at his Aunt. He had not expected her to talk at that moment and definitely didn't expect her to say something like that. Did he hear her right? She knew this Hogwarts place?

"Aunt Petunia?" he said tentatively – "do you know what he is talking about?"

Petunia Dursley stood with her arms crossed, staring at the invader as she spoke with a defiant look.

"Of course I do. How could I not. The place my sister disappeared to for most of the year, coming back home the favorite, so talented and – _special_ " The last word said with venomous emphasis.

"I was the only one who saw her for what she was, a freak. A selfish freak that thought she was too good to help her own mother. And I knew when you were left at our doorstep you would be just as _abnormal_ as she and your good for nothing father were".

Hagrid looked at her, his eyes no longer smiling. His voice boomed all across the little house and made the railings on the stairs rattle. "YOU WILL NOT TALK ABOUT HARRY'S PARENTS THAT WAY! THE POTTERS GAVE THEIR LIFE FOR THE CAUSE AND THEIR FAME IS AS DESERVED AS HARRY'S IN OU' WORLD – OF WHICH YEH KNO' NOTHIN' ABOUT!"

"Our world? What world? And what do you mean my parents gave their life? I thought they died in a car crash? What do you mean famous?" Harry could barely hear himself since his ears were ringing from the giant's outburst so close to where he was standing.

"A car cra-?" Hagrid let out a sigh. He had not expected this. "I guess it be easier if aye just say it. Harry – yer a wizard"

There was silence now. The simple claim said by this giant of a man was so incredible that it had difficulty being processed by the family residing in #4 Privet Drive. A wizard? Did he hear correctly? It couldn't be? But then again, Harry could not help but start thinking about all the unexplained things growing up, and somehow, deep in his heart in that instant he just knew it was true.

"A wizard…" he said in barely a whisper.

"Blimey Harry, that explains so much, like the serpent at the zoo! I can't believe it! Why didn't you say anything befo-" Dudley stopped talking abruptly once he saw his mother's ire directed at him.

"Well, yeh don look like you got to read your letter yet. Hold on, I've gottit here somewhere" Hagrid looked in all pockets in his heavy coat (and there were a LOT of pockets) before finally finding an envelope in one of them. "Here yeh are Harry"

The envelope felt heavy when he grabbed it. He saw the emblem stamped on the envelope with wax and the same few words he had managed to read earlier from the other envelope.

 _Mr H. Potter_

 _The smallest room_

 _4 Privet Drive_

 _Little Whinging_

 _Surrey_

Harry opened his envelope and started reading. It was a letter welcoming him to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and a list of books he would need (a lot of the titles seemed very weird and he wondered if they were even real as he had not seen any titles like that at the library before). He had no words and simply started putting the parchment back into the envelope when he realized there was another envelope stuck to the back of his. He had not noticed before in his shock of learning he was a wizard, but now that he saw it, he carefully separated it (the wax had been pressed against the other envelope and stuck that way – Hagrid must have sat on them at some point).

What he saw in that second envelope surprised him, but not as much as it had his Aunt. She was as pale as a ghost, a look of terror covering her features. "No. No. No no no no no. This can't be. It can't be true. Anything but this"

As she mumbled this, Harry grabbed the envelope and slowly handed it to the person addressed in it. He could not believe it either, certainly this must mean…well, it could only mean one thing. "It's for you" he said, looking down at the writing once again, as if to make sure he had read the right thing. But there was no mistaking it.

 _Mr D. Dursley_

 _The biggest room_

 _4 Privet Drive_

 _Little Whinging_

 _Surrey_

 **A/N**

As the description mentions, this is my first attempt at writing a story. I would love some feedback. I have a broad idea of where I want to take the story in the long run, but whether I write past a handful of chapters I guess will depend on how strong I feel my writing is after a while. Please review :)

Edit: reuploaded to fix some typos and formatting.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Magic Awakens

**Chapter 2 - The magic awakens**

Life at #4 Privet Drive had become rather dull since Hagrid's visit. Dudley of course was over the moon at discovering he was a wizard and wanted to talk to Harry constantly about it and speculate of all the wonderful things they would get to do, which would have been fine if it wasn't for the looks Aunt Petunia threw in their direction every time she caught them at it.

It wasn't so much a look of disgust anymore, or even anger - it was an empty stare. Aunt Petunia had been very withdrawn since that day. After Dudley had opened his letter she had just sunk into a chair and stared into space while the boys kept asking Hagrid more and more details about the magic world. He told them about Hogwarts and the magical creatures that they would maybe get to see (he got very excited talking about dragons and told them how he had always wanted one – the boys were just amazed they actually existed), the existence of a ministry of magic, about the great headmaster Albus Dumbledore (apparently even the minister of magic came to him for advice!), how they called non-magical folk 'muggles' and how they were supposed to keep it all secret so those same muggles would not try and go to them for magical solutions to all their problems. He told them he would come back on Harry's birthday and take them to a place where they could get all their books and their magic wands ("our very own magic wands!"), and to be ready to go bright and early.

And so it was that Harry had since then tried to avoid the house as much as possible and had taken to splitting his time between spending it at the library and aggressively looking to do odd jobs for the neighbors in an attempt to save money to buy his school books (Hagrid had neglected to mention how they were going to pay for it all and with how his Aunt had been lately he did not have much hope she would help him pay for it). This meant he at least had something to focus on and not be restless about his birthday – well, not _too_ restless anyway.

After a few days Dudley had joined Harry in his quest for odd jobs – not because of the money, like many kids his age he just took for granted that mom or dad would pay for things – but because of how distant Petunia had been with him. She barely acknowledged either of them actually. Harry had experienced before that sort of treatment but he saw how distressed it made Dudley feel, he had always been used to getting his way and commanding his mother's full attention whenever he wanted, so Harry felt bad for him and did not mind him joining him even if it meant getting paid a bit less than if he did the job on his own.

As promised, Hagrid showed up again a couple weeks later to pick them up. Harry had woken up very early that day (or rather, he didn't sleep much, full of anticipation) and had breakfast ready for him and Dudley before even Aunt Petunia was awake. He waited a bit but could not help himself and decided to go wake Dudley up, only to find he was already up and grinning at him as he entered his room.

"Today is the day Harry! I guess you get a good birthday present this year after all. Happy birthday cus"

Harry was taken aback for a moment, it was the first time Dudley had ever wished him a happy birthday. True they were getting along better now but they were not quite as close this time last year.

"Thank you Dudley, it is looking to be a great day for sure" he said while smiling as his cousin. They headed downstairs and found Aunt Petunia awake now, so they ate breakfast in silence and Harry washed the dishes while Dudley sat down to watch the morning cartoons on the telly.

The wait seemed to stretch for ever, Harry was starting to dread it had all been a dream. He had spent the last half hour of wait constantly looking out the window, so when he finally opened the door he found a startled Hagrid mid-knock.

"Well, I figur' tha' means yar all ready ta' go eh?" chuckled the smiling giant of a man.

"Yes sir we are" replied Harry as he smiled and reached for his coat. Hagrid waved him off dismissively. "Please, don' call me sir. It don' sound right tae me ears. Just Hagrid, Harry"

"Ok _sir Hagrid_ " he smirked back.

Hagrid seemed to have not noticed or given up since he did not comment.

As they were all stepping out the door Harry called back to his aunt "we are leaving now Aunt Petunia" more out of respect than actually expecting an answer, so he almost tripped over himself when he heard her say something for the first time in days.

"Just one minute" she said as she stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room where they were. She straightened the apron she was wearing and spoke in a very casual voice.

"Now Duddikins, I want you to be careful while in London. Do everything Mr. Hagrid tells you to do and be a good boy like always" She opened her purse and handed Dudley some money, presumably for his school supplies. Dudley just stared at her with watery eyes and a look of shock that revealed he also had not been expecting her to say anything.

"I – I thought you didn't love me anymore mum…now that I'm a freak" he mumbled while staring now at the floor.

"Oh Duddy, why would you ever think that?" Petunia looked conflicted as she said this, and also looked at the floor.

"It's true I was surprised at first. And I have had to think about what it means to me that you are…magical. I still love you very much. I have…I have doubts still, but those are my burden. You are and always will be my special Duddykins and I love you no matter what. We will make this work for you. If you have magic in you, I am sure you will not abandon your poor mother like some other selfish person would"

Dudley lunged himself into his mother's arms and hugged her like he had never done it before - he had never feared his mom not loving him before, and he never hugged tighter. She just held him close and they held each other like that for what felt like a long time.

Harry couldn't help but choke a bit at the scene happening in front of him. Despite his Aunt taking a stab at his mom (he remembered what she had said about her when Hagrid had first shown up), he was glad they were making up after all these weeks of silence. Hagrid on his part busied himself pretending to fiddle with the umbrella he was carrying, obviously uncomfortable at witnessing it as an outsider. After they finally separated, Aunt Petunia gave Dudley the money she was still clutching in her hand, and handed Harry a handful of change from her pocket. She then turned around and walked back into the kitchen like nothing out the ordinary had happened, leaving them all looking at each other awkwardly.

"Well, I reckon we should get goin' if we are to get there by muggle ways, I dunno how long its'possed tae take" said Hagrid after a while. They all left the house in silence.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The trip to London was for the most part uneventful, except for Hagrid loudly complaining about the seats on the Underground being too small and that it was too slow. He obviously was not used to normal, non-magical ways of getting around, which made Harry and Dudley spend the trip once again daydreaming about what would traveling with magic be like.

After a while they arrived at a tiny, grubby-looking pub that they almost missed had Hagrid not pointed it out to them.

"This is it" said Hagrid, "The Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place"

The boys looked at the pub with a dubious look on their face, wondering if Hagrid was putting them on. Yet, they noticed that other than them, nobody seemed to even notice the building, so there must be more to it they figured. They followed Hagrid inside.

What they saw inside did not seem that out of the ordinary either, aside from maybe the fact that people were wearing wizard robes. It was early in the day so there were very few people. A handful of old ladies in a corner, likely gossiping, a tiny little man at the bar drinking a very bright looking drink and smoking a long pipe, and random patrons lounging about.

"The usual Hagrid?" came a voice from behind the bar. Harry saw it belonged to a man who was quite bald and looked a bit like a gummy walnut.

"Not today Tom, I'm on important Hogwarts' business" said Hagrid, clapping his massive hands on the boys' shoulders. Harry and Dudley's knees buckled under the strength. Hagrid it seemed did not know his own strength.

"Babysitting new students? Heh, you do get to do ever-" the barkeep stopped mid-sentence. He had noticed Harry and was staring intently at the lightning bolt-shape scar on his forehead.

"Could it be? Harry Potter! I can't believe it! Welcome back Mr. Potter! Thank you for everything Mr. Potter, thank you!"

Everyone in the pub was now looking in their direction. A loud ruckus ensued as tables and chairs were moved aside in order to get to where Harry Potter was and shake his hand. Excited praises and thank you's was all he knew for what seemed like a long time. Finally the excitement died down as a final individual approached them. A pale, nervous young man apprehensively got close.

"P-P-Potter" stammered the unknown man as he made to shake Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you. I will b-be looking forward to s-seeing more of you th-this year"

"Professor Quirell here will be teachin' yeh at Hogwarts" volunteered Hagrid at the look of confusion on Harry's face.

"What sort of magic do you teach, professor Quirell?" asked Dudley, now coming out of the corner he had been pushed into when everyone was greeting Harry (in the confusion Harry had not noticed and he felt bad about it)

"D-Defence Against the D-D-Dark Arts", muttered Professor Quirell, "n-not that you n-need it, eh P-Potter?" he winked nervously.

After a quick exchange between Hagrid and Professor Quirell, they finally managed to get through the bar and out into a small walled courtyard in the back of the pub. Dudley seemed a bit put out at this.

"I thought we were going to buy things for a magic school. Instead you bring us to a shady pub, and for some reason everyone not only knows Harry but idolizes him. What gives? What is going on? He demanded. Harry was itching to know as well but Dudley beat him to it.

"You mentioned Harry's parents and Harry himself being famous, but I thought you were exaggerating".

"I ferget how little yeh know about the magic world" sighed Hagrid after a few seconds.

"Look here, I don' think I should be the one tellin' you this, but I 'spose yeh have a right tae know sum of it, what I can tell yeh anyway, it's a great myst'ry, parts of it"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as if trying to think what the proper way of telling the story was.

"It begins, I suppose, with – a dark wizard. Went as bad as yeh can go"

"Who?"

"Blimey, I don' like saeyin the name, no one does. People are still scared yeh see, but his name was…it was…awe to hell with it. Alright - _Voldemort_. Don't make me repeat it".

"Vol-?"

"Don't yeh repeat it either! People don' like hearing it. Say You-Know-Who"

"Anyway, he had a lot o' followers, people did nae know who they could trust, he had become very powerful and folk just wanted a bit of his power. Terrible times they were. He did as he pleased everywhere. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of."

"Now, yer mum an' dad were two of the greatest witch an' wizard I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Eventually You-Know-Who decided tae go after them, persuade 'em to join him or jus' to get 'em out o' the way, nobody knows for sure. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en ten years ago and he…he…"

Hagrid started crying now, and after loudly blowing his nose, he continued.

"Sorry, I knew yer parents ye see? You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then – and this is the myst'ry of it – he tried to kill you, too. But he couldn't do it. The curse he used bounced back – that's how ye got your scar. That's why ye are famous Harry. No one ever survived after he decided tae kill 'em. Nobody. E'cept a one year old called Harry Potter".

"The strangest thing is, You-Know-Who diss'peared that night. Some say he died. Codswallop I say. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time. Too weak to carry on. You gave people hope after that. You were the boy who lived"

"That's stupid" said Dudley all of a sudden.

"So you are telling me he is famous just because a dark wizard blew himself up? He did not even do anything to deserve that fame?"

"Now wait jus' a darn minute Dursley!"

"It's ok Hagrid, he is right" Harry jumped in before Dudley got in trouble on his behalf. "I don't remember anything and don't feel I have done anything worthy of praise. But thank you for telling me this. Let's just get on with shopping shall we?"

Hagrid was taken aback by this, and he lost track of what he was about to say.

"Yeah ok, let's go"

He pulled out his umbrella and looked around while counting bricks and muttering to himself, tapping the bricks with the tip of the umbrella (Harry was starting to wonder if there was more to the umbrella than met the eyes).

"Three up…two across…"

The brick he touched shook, as did others around it, moving and realigning until they made an archway. After being inside the darkness of the pub, and now in a shaded area, the light of day coming from the opening seemed that much brighter. Like the heavens had opened to show them the way through to a wonderful new place, magically hidden from the world. Hagrid beamed at their lit faces.

"Welcome you two, to Diagon Alley"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Diagon Alley was like nothing Harry had seen before. All manner of shops and people and creatures walked about without realizing how amazing they all were. He wished he had multiple eyes (maybe there was a magic spell to give him that?) so he could take in everything at once in every direction. Dudley was also looking everywhere, eyeing in particular a shop full of assorted and exotic sounding prank kits (New Zonko's branch now open!). There was even a shop with flying brooms, a pet emporium and more.

It was because of them looking at everything that they did not really pay attention to where they were going (Hagrid being so large parted the crowds quite easily so all they had to do was keep up behind him) so they ended walking into Hagrid once he stopped in front a snowy-white building that towered over the other little shops. Harry had to do a double take once he saw the doorman and opened his eyes in surprise.

"Yeah, that's a goblin" said Hagrid in what was (for him) a whisper, "nasty folk, yeh'd have tae be mad ter try anything at Gringots. No safer place in the worl' to keep anything. 'Cept maybe Hogwarts"

The visit to the bank - for that was what Gringots turned out to be - was an interesting experience, made even more enjoyable by Dudley's reaction when they opened the vault that up to now, Harry did not know existed. As it turns out, the dark wizard that he had 'defeated' had several bounties on his head across Europe and they were all paid out in Harry's name. And it was a LOT of gold. Harry had to convince Dudley not to tell Aunt Petunia about the vault by telling him he would buy all his school stuff for him and he could use the money she gave him on that joke shop instead. He grinned at this and accepted, and later, after briefly exchanging his muggle money into wizarding money (and receiving a small tutorial on what each coin was worth from the goblin before he convinced him to open his own account) Dudley would be enjoying a pocket full of pranks and jokes he would certainly torture Harry with for weeks.

Then there was the cart ride zooming at neck breaking speeds, with so many twists and turns and a glimpse ofwhat Harry could swear was a dragon. Or the very mysterious package Hagrid apparently was there to pick up as well (Griphook, the bank manager, had been very suspicious of whether Hagrid was really him, as if anybody could mistake him for anybody else). All in all, as Harry was walking away from the bank with a pocket full of galleons, sickles and knuts (gold, silver and bronze wizard coins) he felt the day just kept getting better and better, and he doubted he could be even more amazed after that. Boy was he wrong.

"Might as well get yer uniforms" said Hagrid nodding towards _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions._ " But they would have none of that. They wanted their wands first. They wanted to feel like proper wizards and had been looking forward to having their own wands these past few weeks. And so they walked into a very shabby looking shop with fading gold letters over the door that read _Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC._

"Good afternoon" said the old man in the shop.

"Hello" said Harry awkwardly.

"Ah yes, Harry Potter. I thought I would be seeing you soon." He looked at Dudley and gave him a polite nod. Then looked up at Hagrid and greeted him as well.

"Hullo Ollivander. Nice tae see yeh. These two be starting Hogwarts and want proper wands to be proper wizards" He smiled and stole a sideways glance at the two of them.

"Listen, can you take care o' these two for a little bit? I have sumthin important I need tae do really quick like. I will be right back"

Mr. Ollivander just nodded again. He walked to the back of the store as he continued to speak.

"You have your mother's eyes. I remember her buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, made of willow. Good for charm work. While your father, well he favored a mahogany wand, eleven inches, good for transfiguration."

He had returned with quite a few boxes, making Harry wonder how he managed to talk and carry all of them without tripping.

"Well," he continued, "I say he favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard really"

He approached Dudley first, asking him about his wand arm, then ignoring him and just leaving a tape measure zipping around him on its own measuring his arm, his forehead, his nostrils, and many other places that he did not want to think about. Then he realized Mr. Ollivander had moved towards him and he had his own measuring tape zipping around on its own.

They must have tried what felt like hundreds of different wands. Boxes upon boxes of them were piled on the counter and all over the floor, but no sooner had they gotten a hold of one that Ollivander was taking it away from them and giving them another one. After only his fiftieth wand or so Dudley found his – Eight inches made of Rowan, with a dragon heartstring (good for defensive spells he was told). "Wicked!" was all he said after a few sparks came out of his wand.

Harry however, took much longer to find a wand. "Tricky customer eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, yes – why not…" Ollivader seemed lost in his own thoughts as he grabbed a box from a small shelf in a corner.

"Eleven inches, supple holly with phoenix feather" he said as he handed it to Harry. When Harry reached for the wand, no sooner had his fingers touched the wood when he felt a warmth spread through him, from his fingertips to his core. Red and gold sparks shot out of the tip of the wand and a gust of wind seemed to come out of nowhere, blowing papers and boxes around the store. Ollivander seemed unconcerned about this as he cried, "Oh bravo! Yes indeed…curious, very curious…" The last part he just muttered to himself, deep in thought. Harry raised an eyebrow at him wondering what was curious.

"Sorry but, what is curious?"

Mr. Ollivander gave him a sobered look as he answered. "I remember every wand I ever sold Mr. Potter. Every single one. The phoenix feather that is the core of your wand came from the tail of a bird that provided only one other feather on that specific life cycle. It is curious you were destined for that particular wand when its brother, why it's brother gave you that scar" He put a pale finger on his scar as he said this, then continued.

"Thirteen and a half inches, yew. But the same core. Remember I said the wand chooses the wizard. I reckon we should expect great things from you Mr. Potter, after all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible yes – but great things"

Harry gulped. He did not know what to think. He did not have time however to dwell on it as Hagrid returned at that moment carrying a cage with a beautiful snowy owl in it.

"I got yeh a present Harry, it being yer birthday today an' all" He was beaming at him "Happy birthday!"

After paying seven gold galleons for each of their wands, they walked out and continued to do their shopping, the incident with the wand escaping his mind as it was filled with more wonderful things like talking mirrors, endless pocket trunks (which he bought a pair for him and Dudley), collapsible cauldrons, globes of the moon the floated in the air with nothing holding them, windows stacked with barrels full of potion ingredients (the smells was awful in the apothecary) and other things he had never seen before.

His favorite shop however was the bookstore. Dudley had to drag him away after he spent 30 minutes just looking at books that were not even in their school list. Harry left with multiple titles of whatever he found interesting, and the magic world being new and exciting for him, well, there were a lot of books. He was glad he had just bought such a good trunk to keep it all without worrying about running out of space.

As the day aged into a warm afternoon, the trio made their way back to the pub, stopping of course for some ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, which had many flavors of ice cream that the kids did not even think were possible. They made a mental note to return here in the future.

Harry was lost in thought now, not having a magical shopping center around to distract him, and he did not even notice the looks people were giving them on the Underground, carrying all sorts of odd shaped packages, an owl and accompanied by a giant. So many people he met today seemed excited about meeting him. He was famous and he now realized he did not care for that at all. It was alien to him to receive so much attention. And the business with his wand made him think a lot about what it meant. In the end he decided there was nothing he could do about it and he was just going to take this new world one day at a time.

By the time they made it back home it was starting to get dark. Hagrid handed them an envelope each. "Yer tickets fer Hogwarts. Don' loose it you two. First o' September – King's Cross – it's all in the ticket. Any problems you have just send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where tae find me. See yeh soon you two" They stared at their envelopes briefly and when they looked up, Hagrid was gone.

They were both exhausted from spending all day shopping. But they still had a lot of energy. Harry was surprised that Dudley, of all people, even picked up some of his books and started leafing through them. He may not like reading like Harry did, but this were books about magic, and apparently that was enough. He probably would not feel the same once they had to use them for school he figured, but for now, he just left him to it.

Aunt Petunia did not ask them how it went, she merely hugged Dudley and served them supper without a word. When Dudley handed her his envelope with the ticket she just took it without looking at it. Well, Harry thought, it's going to be an interesting time until the first of September. At least I have books entertain myself with.

As he lay on his bed that night, he smiled while looking at the ceiling. He now had a wand, he thought, and soon he would be going to school to learn all about magic. It was all so surreal. He no longer dreaded it all being a dream however, having felt the magic course through him while holding that wand made it real for him. It awoke a sort of…calm in him. It felt right somehow. As he drifted off to sleep, the last words that came out of his mouth were something he would define himself with for a long time to come…

"I Harry Potter, am a wizard"

* * *

A/N

Before you ask, due to Harry and Dudley coming to Diagon Alley earlier than in the books, I figured the timing of things is different and even had they gone later, because they acquired their wands first instead of robes they would not have come across Draco, hence no first encounter there. I got plans for Draco still though, don't worry : )

Thank you for those who wrote reviews, please feel free to leave more as the chapters get released. Not sure how fast they will come out (this was a shorter chapter and already had some of it written but others may be longer) but any feedback is always welcome.


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